Liquid injection container with finger knob

ABSTRACT

Herein disclosed is a liquid injection container which comprises: a container body 1; a cylinder 10 depending into the container body from a cap-shaped member 3 fitted on the outer face of the mouth/neck portion of the container body; and an actuator 20 having a stem 17 erected through the top wall 4 of the cap-shaped member from a cylindrical piston 16, which is fitted in the cylinder, and a head 18 fitted on the upper end of the stem and having a nozzle opened forward. The actuator is moved up and down with respect to the cylinder for sucking a liquid in the container body into the cylinder and discharging the liquid in the cylinder out of the nozzle 19 through the stem. A finger knob 30 attached to the top face of the head for receiving a finger. The vertical movements of the actuator are accomplished by the tip of the finger inserted into the finger knob. The actuations of the actuator are facilitated by means of auxiliary walls 6 and 6 acting as a finger knob and guiding the head. These auxiliary walls are erected along the righthand and lefthand two side portions of the head.

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/910,272filed Aug. 6, 1992, now abandoned.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a manual type liquid injectioncontainer such as a spraying container, a foaming container or acontainer for discharging a liquid as it is, and a container capable ofinjecting one of spray, foam and liquid selectively by switching aliquid injection passage formed in a head.

BACKGROUND ART

As the manual type spraying container, a foaming container or acontainer for injecting a liquid as it is, there is commercially sold aliquid injection container which comprises: a container body; a cylinderdepending into the container body from a cap-shaped member fitted on theouter face of the mouth/neck portion of the container body; and anactuator having a stem erected through the top wall of the cap-shapedmember from a cylindrical piston, which is fitted in the cylinder, and ahead fitted on the upper end of the stem and having a nozzle openedforward. The actuator is moved up and down with respect to the cylinderfor sucking a liquid in the container body into the cylinder anddischarging the liquid in the cylinder out of the nozzle through thestem. Also sold is a container which is enabled to inject one of thosespray, foam and liquid selectively by switching a liquid injectionpassage formed in the head.

Incidentally, these containers have different nozzle structures but aresubstantially similar except the structure of the head having thenozzle.

In the aforementioned liquid injection containers of the prior art, theactuator composed of the cylindrical piston, the stem and the head isbiased upward by the spring so that it is raised back by the springafter it has been depressed. As a result, the depression of the actuatoris accomplished against the biasing force of the spring so that itrequires a considerable force.

The present invention contemplates to provide a liquid injectioncontainer, from which the spring is eliminated and in which the fingerknob is added to the top face of the head of the actuator, so that theactuator may be moved up and down by the finger inserted into the fingerknob. These actuations are facilitated by erecting auxiliary walls alongthe two sides of the head of the actuator for acting as a finger gripand guiding the head.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In an elevated state of the actuator 20, as shown in FIGS. 1, 6 and. 8,the finger tip of a hand holding the upper portion of the container isslightly inserted into the finger knob 30 and is pulled up and down sothat the actuator 20 composed of the cylindrical piston 16, the stem 17and the head 18 is moved up and down to suck the liquid in the containerinto the cylinder 10 and to discharge the liquid in the cylinder out ofthe nozzle 19 of the head 15. The auxiliary walls 6 and 6 of FIG. 8,which are erected along the righthand and lefthand side portions of thetop wall of the cap-shaped member, partly provide a finger grip, whenthe container is held at its upper portion by the hand, and partly guidethe head 18 when the head is moved down, to prevent the head from movingto the right and left.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing a first embodiment, FIG. 1 is a longitudinalsection showing a container of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is anenlarged section showing an essential portion of FIG. 1 with an actuatorbeing in a lower position. Of FIGS. 3 and 4 showing a second embodiment,FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the state, in which a U-shaped bailforming a finger knob is fallen down forward, and FIG. 4 is aperspective view showing an erected state. Of FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 showing athird embodiment: FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the state, inwhich an inverted U-shaped bail forming the finger knob is in a lowerposition; FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the state, in which theinverted U-shaped bail is pulled up to carry the head upward; and FIG. 7is an enlarged elevation showing an essential portion half in sectionwith the inverted U-shaped bail being in the lower position. Of FIGS. 8to 10 showing a fourth embodiment: FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectionshowing a container; FIG. 9 is a front elevation showing the container;and FIG. 10 is a top plan view showing the container. FIG. 11 showsrespective modifications of the finger knob at A, B, C, D and E.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First of all, the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will bedescribed in the following. Reference numeral 1 designates a containerbody having an erected mouth/neck portion 2. On the outer face of themouth/neck portion, there is screwed the lower half of a circumferentialwall 5 which depends from the outer circumference of the top wall of acap-shaped member 3. Said member is formed with a hole 8 at the centralportion of the top wall 4. The upper half of the circumferential wall isradially reduced to have a smaller internal diameter than the externaldiameter of the mouth/neck portion, and the reduced portion has itslower end face mounted through a packing 9 on the upper end face of themouth/neck portion.

In the upper half of the aforementioned circumferential wall 5, there isfitted a short cylinder 12 which is erected from the outer circumferenceof an external flange 11 formed in the upper portion of a cylinder 10.This cylinder 10 has a larger-diameter portion 10a at its upper portionand a smaller-diameter portion 10b at its lower portion and is equippedin the inner face of its lower end with a suction valve 13 of a ballvalve. A pipe 14 depends to the bottom portion of the container bodyfrom the lower end of the cylinder 10. An air vent hole 15 is formed inthe aforementioned larger-diameter portion 10a.

From the inside of the aforementioned cylinder 10, there is erectedthrough the aforementioned hole 8 a stem 17 which is equipped with acylindrical piston 16 at its lower end. On the upper end of said stem,there is fitted a head 18 which has a nozzle 19 opened forward. Thecylindrical piston 16 and the stem 17 may be made of different members,as shown. In the shown embodiment, the cylindrical piston has itssmaller-diameter cylindrical portion 16b erected from the upper end ofits cylinder portion 16a through an inward flanged portion and fitted inthe lower portion of the stem 17. The cylindrical piston 16, stem 17 andhead 18 constitute altogether an actuator 20, which is equipped with adischarge valve. This discharge valve is formed, in the shownembodiment, by fitting a valve member 21, which has longitudinal groovesin its outer face, vertically movably in the stem 17 so that it isdefined by the lower end face of said valve member and the upper end ofthe bore of the aforementioned smaller-diameter cylinder portion. Thevalve member 21 is biased downward by a spring 22 which is fitted in thestem. This spring has its upper end engaging with the lower face of theinward flange formed at the upper end of the stem. On the outer face ofthe lower portion of the stem 17, there may be fitted a sliding cylinder25, which has its lower portion formed on its outer circumference with aring-shaped sealing member 26 fitted in the cylinder larger-diameterportion 10a and which has its lower end engaging with the upper end faceof the cylinder portion of the cylindrical piston 16. As shown in FIG.2, said sliding cylinder is moved down together with the stem 17 bydepressing the head 18, until it is stopped when said sealing member hasits lower end contacting with the upper end of the cylindersmaller-diameter portion 10b so that the sealing member 26 shuts out theair vent hole 15. However, the stem 17 is further moved down withrespect to the sliding cylinder 25. When the stem is to be moved up, onthe other hand, the cylindrical piston has its cylinder portion 16acontacting with the lower end of the sliding cylinder 25 to push up saidslider cylinder. If the container has its inside evacuated as the liquiddecreases, the sealing member 26 is moved upward of the air vent hole15. After this, the ambient air is introduced into the container bodythrough the clearance between the inner edge of the hole 8 and the outerface of the sliding cylinder 25, through the clearance which isestablished between the sealing member 26 and the inner face of thelarger-diameter portion of the cylinder by deforming said sealing member26 elastically, and through the air vent hole 15. In the shownembodiment, the nozzle opened in the front face of the head is used foratomizations. Despite of this fact, however, there can be provided afoaming container or a liquid discharge container either, as is wellknown in the art, by changing the nozzle structure into a foaming one orby making a head for injecting a liquid as it is. To the upper face ofthe head 18, there is attached a ring-shaped finger knob 30 which hasits ring hole directed forward or backward. Said finger knob is sized toadmit the finger tip into the ring-shaped portion. Said finger knob 30has its finger hole 31 opened forward or backward.

Next, the following description is directed to the second embodimentshown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Said embodiment is formed by hinging the righthand and lefthand two endportions of a U-shaped bail 30a of the finger knob 30 to the righthandand lefthand two side faces of the head 18 such that the finger knob 30can be turned up and down. When the U-shaped bail 30a is erected, thefinger hole 31 is formed by the upper face of the head 18 and the innerface of the U-shaped bail 30a. When the U-shaped bail is fallen downforward, it shuts out the front face of the nozzle 19. As shown, theU-shaped bail 30a may preferably be formed at its intermediate portionwith an operation projection 32. Moreover, the upper end portion of thefront face of the circumferential wall of the cap-shaped member 3 andthe U-shaped bail 30a are respectively formed with a projection 33 forlocking the U-shaped bail in its forward fallen position and anengagement member 34 for engaging with said projection.

In the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, said finger knob 30is formed of an inverted U-shaped bail 41 which is erected from therighthand and lefthand two sides of a sliding cylinder 40 fittedvertically movably on the outer face of the head 18. The outer end ofthe head 18 and the lower end of the sliding cylinder 40 are formed attheir respective outer and inner circumferences with first and secondengagement ridges 42 and 43. Slightly below the first engagement ridge42 of the head, as shown in FIG. 7, there may be formed a thirdengagement ridge 44 which is given such a slightly smaller externaldiameter than that of the first engagement ridge 42 as to allow thesecond engagement ridge of the sliding cylinder to forcibly ridethereover. Then, the sliding cylinder 40 can be prevented fromautomatically moving down, when it is pulled up, so long as the invertedU-shaped bail 41 is not depressed while leaving the second engagementridge 43 positioned between the third engagement ridge 44 and the firstengagement ridge 41. In this embodiment, the discharge valve of thefirst embodiment is replaced by one which is formed of a ball valve 21adisposed in the upper end portion of the stem 17.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, auxiliary walls 6 and 6 foracting as the finger grip and guiding the head are erected from therighthand and lefthand two portions of the top wall 4 of the cap-shapedmember 3 of FIG. 1, and a rear wall 7 for connecting the rear portionsof the lower halves of those auxiliary walls is erected from the rearportion of the top wall. In this embodiment, the head 18 is formedgenerally into such a square shape that it can be moved up and downwhile having its righthand and lefthand side faces contacting with theinner faces of the auxiliary walls 6 and 6.

These auxiliary walls 6 and 6 can be addled to the respective cap-shapedmembers 3 of the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the thirdembodiment shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

The finger knob 30 can be conceived to have a variety of shapes, asshown at A, B, C, D and E in FIG. 11, in addition to those of theforegoing embodiments. The finger knob has a shape of letter C at A inFIG. 11, a shape, in which arcuate members are projected upward andinward from the righthand and lefthand side faces of the head 18 to havetheir upper ends adjacent to each other, at B in FIG. 11, a shape ofinverted letter U at C in FIG. 11, a shape of inverted letter L at D inFIG. 11, and a shape of letter T at E in FIG. 11. In ease of the fingerknob of said shape of letter T, the rising portion may be pinched andmoved up and down by two fingers.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

With the structure thus far described, according to the presentinvention, the spring for pushing up the actuator of the liquiddischarge container of the aforementioned example of the prior art iseliminated to make the force unnecessary for compressing the spring atthe time of depressing the actuator so that the actuator can bedepressed by a less force than that of the prior art. Since, moreover,the finger knob is attached to the upper face of the head, the actuatorcan be easily moved up and down by having the finger knob hooked by thefinger tip of the hand holding the container.

Because of the absence of the actuator depressing spring, stillmoreover, the actuator can be stopped in its lower position, when thecontainer is not used, so that the container can be made lower and morecompact than that of the prior art. Since, furthermore, the finger knob30 is attached to the upper face of the head, the finger on the head canbe set in a constant position so that the position of the finger knob onthe head can be made proper. As a result, the head can always bedepressed substantially vertically unlike the prior art while beingprevented from being pushed transversely or from the back, so that theliquid can be prevented from leaking otherwise due to the transversepush or the push from the back.

As defined in claim 2, moreover, the finger knob has the U-shaped bailhaving its two end portions so hinged to the righthand and lefthand twoside faces of the head that it can stand up to define the finger holewith the top face of the head and the inner face of the U-shaped bailand can fall down to shut out the front face of the nozzle with theinner face of the U-shaped bail. As a result, the nozzle can be keptaway from dust or the like so that it can be prevented from gettingclogged.

As defined in claim 3, the finger knob has the inverted U-shaped bailerected from the righthand and lefthand two sides of the slidingcylinder, which is fitted vertically slidably on the outer face of thehead. As a result, the upper portion of the finger knob can bepositioned, while the container is unused, in the vicinity of the upperface of the head because the sliding cylinder is in the lower position,thus raising an advantage that the overall height of the container canbe reduced.

As defined in claim 4, the auxiliary walls acting as the finger grip andguiding the head are so erected from the righthand and lefthand two sideportions of the top wall of the cap-shaped member along the righthandand lefthand two side faces of the head as to allow the verticalmovements of the head. As a result, the actuator can be operated bygripping the upper portion of the container body and the lower portionsof the auxiliary walls when the container is held for operating theactuator. Thus, the grip position of the hand can be made higher thanthat of the case of no auxiliary wall, to raise the finger tip engagingwith the finger knob thereby to increase the stroke of the actuator.Moreover, the head can be prevented from shaking by the guidance of theauxiliary walls, while it is being moved up and down, so that theoperation of the actuator can be facilitated.

We claim:
 1. A manually-operated liquid discharge container comprising:acontainer body having a neck portion; a cap-shaped member including atop wall connected to a circumferential wall fitted on said neckportion; a pump cylinder having a suction valve, said pump cylinderextending downwardly from said cap-shaped member into said containerbody; an actuator having a piston arranged slidably in said pumpcylinder, a stem extending upwardly from said piston through said topwall, and an operation head attached on a top of said stem and providedwith a discharge nozzle having a front face and a generally ring-shapedfinger knob with a hole for receiving a finger of a user, said actuatorbeing adapted to suck a liquid from within said container body into saidpump cylinder and to discharge the liquid out of said discharge nozzlein a direction by vertical movement of said piston; and a pair ofauxiliary walls extending upwardly from said top wall along opposed sidesurfaces of said operation head for protecting and guiding saidoperation head through a gap therebetween, said auxiliary walls alsoserving as grips for fingers of a user, wherein said piston is free fromautomatic upward bias and said finger knob is provided on an upper endof said operation head for manually pulling up and depressing down saidpiston, and said finger knob hole is oriented in the same direction asthe discharge from said discharge nozzle and said auxiliary walls aredisposed on opposed sides of the stem at generally right angles to thefront face of the discharge nozzle.
 2. A manually-operated liquiddischarge container according to claim 1, wherein a rear wall isprovided on said top wall, extending upwardly from said top wall, behindsaid operation head connecting lower portions of said auxiliary walls.3. A manually-operated liquid discharge container according to claim 1,wherein said operation head has a rectangular cross-section and saidopposed side surfaces are in contact with and slidable over inner facesof said pair of auxiliary walls, to guide and prevent lateral movementof said operation head during vertical movement of said piston.
 4. Amanually-operated liquid discharge container according to claim 1,wherein said pair of auxiliary walls extend above said discharge nozzleat least when said finger knob is depressed.